Derryn Hinch, Ed Husic dragged into BuzzFeed defence in Husar case

Derryn Hinch has been forced to deny sexually harassing Labor MP Emma Husar after online publisher BuzzFeed alleged in court documents that she told a female staffer the Victorian Senator "touched her all over her body" before she allegedly replicated the manoeuvre on her staffer.

The publisher also revealed in court documents that Labor frontbencher Ed Husic and Ms Husar were previously in a relationship.

Emma Husar arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney on Friday.Credit:Peter Rae

Ms Husar has insisted Mr Hinch "never acted inappropriately towards me" and said it was "regrettable that other parties have been dragged into" her Federal Court defamation case against BuzzFeed.

Ms Husar is suing BuzzFeed and its former political journalist Alice Workman for defamation over a story, tweet and Facebook post on August 2 last year which she says convey a range of false and defamatory imputations, including that she is "a slut who boasts about who she has had sex with, which includes other members of Parliament and members of her staff".

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BuzzFeed makes the allegations in its written defence to her claim, filed on February 18 and released by the court on Monday.

Mr Hinch said there was "absolutely no truth" to the harassment allegation, "not a skerrick".

"This is like throwing a dart at a dart board and seeing whose face it hits. This is bizarre," he said.

Derryn Hinch says the allegations in the BuzzFeed defence are "bizarre".Credit:Penny Stephens

Ms Husar said that "while I cannot comment on the particulars, it's important for me to say that Senator Hinch has never acted inappropriately towards me".

Mr Husic confirmed he and Ms Husar had dated in the past, that the relationship had ended, and that they remained friends.

"I'm not a party to the proceedings," Mr Husic said. “I haven’t assisted either party through the course of this litigation, nor do I intend to ... I have no interest in responding to claims raised.”

Ms Husar said BuzzFeed's defence "has some glaring omissions and baffling inclusions. I will, as my lawyers informed the court on Friday, meet these allegations head on."

In its defence filed in court, BuzzFeed says its publications did not suggest Ms Husar was a "slut" but in the event the court finds the imputation was conveyed it will rely on a defence of truth.

In support of its truth defence, it pleaded a range of particulars including an allegation that in about May 2017 Ms Husar told Labor Penrith city councillor Robin Cook, who worked in her electorate office, that "she had been sexually harassed by Senator Derryn Hinch in that he had come right up close to [Ms Husar], and touched her all over her body".

Mr Hinch said on Monday: "I shouldn't deign to even answer this, but I have met Ms Husar two, maybe three times over the past two-and-a-half years. Always in the company of staff, to discuss domestic violence and the need for a Family Court royal commission."

The defence also alleges Ms Husar pressed "her right breast against [a male staffer's] left shoulder and arm" on two occasions in 2017.

In paragraphs that have since been struck out of its defence, BuzzFeed also said Ms Husar told a staff member in about August 2016 that she was "in a sexual relationship with [Mr Husic and] ... that she enjoyed it and that she did not want the fact that she had been elected to Parliament to complicate that sexual relationship".

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The defence says Ms Husar also told the staff member between August and December that year that she had been "been out late the previous night" with Andrew Thomas, then chief of staff to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, and later told a different staffer in January 2017 that she had been out with Mr Thomas on what she believed was a date.

Ms Husar's barrister, Sandy Dawson, SC, told the court on Friday that he understood the relationship with the Labor MP – now revealed to be Mr Husic – had ended in 2015.

On Friday Justice Steven Rares struck out the particulars relating to Mr Husic and Mr Thomas, saying they didn't "get anywhere near proving the substantial truth" of the imputations.

He urged the parties to consider mediation, saying if the "complicated" and "expensive" case goes to trial, "a lot of collateral damage might be done to a whole lot of people".

A spokesperson for BuzzFeed said: "Last August BuzzFeed published details of the internal Labor party investigation into Emma Husar's treatment of employees.

"The decision to publish was not taken lightly. We believed at the time, and still do, that the public had a right to know about this investigation into one of their elected representatives. Husar sued BuzzFeed and we have now filed our defence to the claim.

"As part of her claim, Husar says BuzzFeed has portrayed her as 'a slut'. This is her word. It is not a word that BuzzFeed ever used or implied. It is on this territory that BuzzFeed has had to defend its reporting. BuzzFeed has no interest in who Husar has had sex with – our interest was in her workplace conduct.

"We believe that politicians and public figures are entitled to have private lives. We also recognise that women in public life face unfair scrutiny of their actions and choices. But there is clear public interest in reporting on conduct by an elected representative in the workplace.

"We do not intend to make any further public comments on the proceeding while the legal process take its course."